But now the Sea Watch Foundation says reports have continued to come in, with the marine mammals seen swimming around South Shields too.

“Two belugas whales were also sighted from South Shields pier on September 1, at around midday,” a spokesman for the group said. “And the Sea Watch Foundation has on Wednesday received two separate reports from different observers at the same location.

“It is thought that these may be the same two animals which were spotted off Warkworth earlier in the week, although the possibility of more than two animals having made the incredible journey to English shores cannot be ruled out.”

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Until the last month, there has been only 17 sightings of belugas in all of Britain and Ireland, with 13 of them in Scotland and only one - at Hadston in Northumberland in 1988 - in the North East.

Dr Peter Evans, director of the Sea Watch Foundation, said the whales could be drifting into North Eastern waters as the sea temperatures have been unusually low this summer.